Founded in 1150, the University of Paris is often described as the world’s second oldest university still in existence. And with age comes a certain prestige and reverence. For many non-French people, the Sorbonne belongs in a similar category as Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard.
But while I was a student, I certainly didn’t have that impression. For one thing, ‘the Sorbonne’ is not actually a university; instead, it refers to the building in the Latin Quarter with which the University of Paris is associated.